War for the Planet of the Apes

Of all the sequels, prequels, etc, out there that Hollywood has to offer, the "Planet of the Apes" is one prequel I can certainly respect since it tells the story of how mankind screwed up royally to lead us up to the original 1969 "Planet of the Apes" where man is subservient to apes. So with "War of the Planet of the Apes", this continues that story as a lead up.

 

In this third installment of the "Planet of the Apes" prequel series--"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" '11 and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" '14 being the first two--which depicts the events that led to the primates taking control of the Earth, Simian leader Caesar (played via motion capture by Andy Serkis) is horrified when his oldest son, Rocket (Terry Notary) and his wife, Cornelia (Judy Greer) are killed during an attack by human soldiers on his community. Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and plots revenge on the Colonel (Woody Harrelson) the ruthless human military leader behind the assault, which threatens to ignite an all-out-war between the two species resulting a potential horrific future of the planet.

 

Others to round out the cast are Steve Zahn as Bad Ape, Karin Konoval as Maurice, Amiah Miller as Nova, Ty Olsson as Red Donkey, Michael Adamthwaite as Luca, Toby Kebbell as Koba, Gabriel Chavarria as Preacher, Sara Canning as Lake, Devyn Dalton as Cornelius, Caesar's younger son, Aleks Paunovic as Winter and Alessandro Juliani as Spear.

 

This was delineated well by director Matt Reeves ("The Pallbearer" '96, "Cloverfield" '08, "Let Me In" '10, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" '14) plus TV. It definitely helps to obtain the same creative people from earlier installments (this being Reeves) to give the characters that similar feel as to keep the development of the individual characters very familiar to its audience and this, indeed, happened here. Undoubtedly, there will be another installment to continue the story and it would behoove Hollywood to commission this filmmaker once again. It was creatively written by Mark Bombeck ("Live Free or Die Hard" '07, "Unstoppable" '10, "Total Recall" '12, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" '14, "Insurgent" '15) plus other films and TV and Reeves ("The Pallbearer" '96, "The Yards" 2000, "Let Me In" '10) plus TV. Again, these writers wrote the previous installment "Dawn" which gave its audience that familiar ambience in which it needed. The only issue I found in this was it was a bit long-in-the-tooth--a couple of slow spots that I wondered if they were really needed, but otherwise this story was rock solid. I am excited to see how these different installments connect with the original 1969 film. Obviously this is one of the oldest franchises in motion picture history--hey, it's got a lot to say, not to mention that the fan base is huge and has been for decades. Of course, the visual effects predominantly designed by Weta Digital and MPC (Moving Picture Company) were amazingly seamless and the motion capture effects were equally stunning.

 

Of all the franchises, this one has certainly proved itself time and again, especially since these prequels have been produced. The whole concept of the story is we, as human beings should never, NEVER tempt nature as it was designed. Just because we can do something against nature, does this mean we should? You be the judge.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                  Rated: PG-13                                    140mins.